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| A MAN AND A WOMAN (UN HOMME ET UNE
FEMME) (director/writer:
Claude Lelouch; screenwriter: Pierre Uytterhoeven;
cinematographer: Claude Lelouch;
editor: Claude
Barrois; music: Francis Lai; cast: Anouk Aimee (Anne Gauthier),
Jean Louis Trintignant (Jean-Louis Duroc), Pierre Barouh
(Pierre Gautier), Valerie Lagrange (Valerie Duroc),
Antoine Sire (Antoine Duroc), Souad Amidou (Francoise Gauthier), Henri
Chemin (Jean-Louis' Codriver), Yane Barry (Mistress of
Jean-Louis), Paul Le Person (Garage Man), Simone Paris
(Head Mistress), Valérie Lagrange (Valérie
Duroc); Runtime: 102; MPAA Rating: NR;
producer: Claude Lelouch;
Warner Home Video; 1966-France-in French with English
subtitles) "Enjoyable slick soap opera romance that did a big box office despite its superficial strains." Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
French filmmaker Claude Lelouch ("And Now My Love"/"Us
Two"/"Live for Life") directs this enjoyable
slick soap opera romance that did a big box office
despite its superficial strains. Lelouch
in his ensuing long career never duplicated the
success he achieved with this low-budget popular and
acclaimed flick. Twenty years later, in 1986, Lelouch
made A Man and a Woman: Twenty Years
Later and cast the same stars Anouk Aimee and Jean Louis Trintignant in
the same roles, but without the same box office
success. A Man and A Woman gets over as something
sappy because the script by Pierre Uytterhoeven and
Lelouch is decent enough and left room for the actors
to improvise, the innovative New Wave stylistic
directing was diverting, the change from b/w to color
was novel (the filmmaker claimed to have done it to
save money), and the attractive stars Anouk Aimee and Jean Louis Trintignant give
engrossing performances. It won the Grand Prize at Cannes and an Oscar for Best Foreign Film and Best Screenplay. Professional racing driver
Jean-Louis Duroc's (Jean Louis Trintignant) wife committed suicide
three years ago after she had a nervous breakdown when
hubby had a smashup during a racing event and he
underwent a three-hour operation. Duroc's adorable child, named Antoine (Antoine Sire), attends a ritzy boarding
school in Deauville. Beautiful movie script girl Anne Gauthier (Anouk Aimee) is a widow, as her
beloved cultured movie stuntman husband died in an
accident while shooting a war movie. Anne has an
adorable daughter Francoise (Souad Amidou) who attends the same
country boarding school as Antoine. One night, after a
week-end visit, Anne misses her train back to Paris
and the kindly head mistress (Simone Paris) arranges for Duroc to
give her a ride home in his red Mustang convertible. A
cautious gradual romance develops that leads in the
end to their marriage. Francis Lai's much praised
theme music was much too heavy-handed for me and its
platitudinous well-worn tunes irritated me more than
it pleased me. To its discredit this lightweight
pretentious middle-brow film started a trend away from
American audiences getting to see those meaningful
heavyweight cultural exports from overseas it was used
to. REVIEWED ON 6/7/2012 GRADE: B Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews" © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ |